Scripts

JACOB'S LADDER - first draft (1981)

Jacob's Ladder premiered on October 29, 1990.​In a December 1983 article, One in a Million, in AFI's American Film magazine, author Steve Rebello listed ten of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, scripts he said “were just too good to get produced.” Rebello had read 125 scripts recommended by respected industry connections. The final ten screenplays included Jacob’s Ladder,The Princess Bride, Total Recall and At Close Range. Rebello wrote in part:Admirers of Bruce Joel Rubin’s 'Jacob’s Ladder' flat out refuse to describe this screenplay. Their only entreaty? ‘Read it. It’s extraordinary.’ And it is… page for page, it is one of the very few screenplays I’ve read with the power to consistently raise hackles in broad daylight.NOTE: Steve Rebello would have read the first draft script available to read/download above.

Commenting on Rebello's article, Bruce has said:I was living in DeKalb Illinois a million miles from Hollywood and any hope of ever actually becoming a presence there when I was told about an article by Steve Rebello in American Film. In it he mentioned my script for JACOB’S LADDER as one of the top ten best unproduced scripts in Hollywood. It came out of the blue and changed my life. I had no idea it was in the works. Suddenly I was recognized and acknowledged for my work. It really was the ignition for my career.